Judge orders 2nd look

Orland Park rebuked after pulling business license for Sky Zone

Orland Park officials were “overly harsh” in pulling the business license of Sky Zone Trampoline Park after a September 2020 report of a fight in progress that drew a large police response, a Cook County Circuit Court judge has ruled.

Judge Eve Reilly, in her Nov. 23 order, told the village to reconsider the matter and the steps taken by the business following the incident.

Sky Zone sued Orland Park immediately after the Village Board voted March 1 to uphold an earlier decision to revoke the license, but has been allowed to remain open during the appeal process.

Sky Zone, 66 Orland Square Drive, is just east of Orland Square mall.

Sky Zone was cited for reckless conduct and a fire code occupancy violation following the Sept. 12 incident.

On Dec. 17 last year, the village’s hearing officer, Village Manager George Koczwara, ruled that the business license should be revoked, a decision upheld by the Village Board in the March 1 vote following a Feb. 22 hearing of an appeal filed by Sky Zone.

At the appeal hearing, the business argued it had taken steps to avoid a repeat of the incident and that it was willing to work with the village on a compromise short of having its license revoked.

Sky Zone agreed to close earlier on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and to use private security on weekends, measures later incorporated in an agreement reached in court.

In her recent ruling, Reilly said that mitigating evidence presented by Sky Zone to the village “was not fully examined and considered” by officials. The judge asked the village to consider the measures Sky Zone had so far put in place and whether license revocation was still appropriate or if other sanctions should be considered.

Koczwara said Friday that he, as the hearing officer, will reconsider whether the license revocation was the appropriate response, but that no new hearing will take place and no additional evidence is being considered.

He said the court didn’t set a

deadline for when a decision on the review should be made, and that no timeline has yet been set by the village regarding when a decision might be rendered.

After the March 1 vote upholding the license revocation, a Sky Zone executive said that pulling the business license was “a drastic step without precedent.”

At the Feb. 22 appeal, evidence presented indicated that a 911 call to Orland Park police about a fight inside the business the night of Sept. 12 drew some 50 police officers from Orland Park and surrounding departments to the business.

It was not clear whether a fight had actually taken place inside, and three youths were cited under village ordinance for disorderly conduct, according to police Chief Joe Mitchell. Nobody was injured, he said.

How many people were inside Sky Zone when officers arrived was not precisely determined, with Sky Zone officials estimating the number at perhaps 330 while police testifying at the initial license revocation hearing put the number at between 500 to 700 people.

The business said that, per fire codes, it had an occupancy limit of 682 people. Police said they had to assist in clearing hundreds of youths from the property.